A Day In The Life… Black History Month
February 3, 2012
This month in the world of baseball, pitchers and catchers will report for “spring training.” Think of that! While clergy are cautioned against using sports illustrations (some foolishness about it not being a universal experience), baseball is just a part of me… since it was my Dad’s as well, it must be genetic. I not only grew up on baseball as it happened but on the stories of those who had gone before, like Lou Gehrig, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige. Oh, Satchel! His rules for living are legendary: things like don’t eat fried foods, they angry up the blood; don’t run anywhere; don’t look back, something might be gaining on you. The book was called, “Maybe I’ll Pitch Forever,” and he nearly did, well into his 50’s. That’s truly ancient for a major leaguer.
Even though I was reading about life in the Negro Leagues, and even though I sensed the underlying injustice that kept that separateness and inequality in place, I didn’t grasp that I was reading “black history.” If you think about it, that’s an odd way to read black history, kind of unknowingly, digging out the baseball stories, and in the midst of that saying, “You know, these guys could have played anywhere!” Their names were even compelling: Cool Papa Bell, Goose Tatum, Josh Gibson.
Until the history of African slaves and their offspring is fully a part of the American story, we need Black History Month. I am so grateful that Fairmont can claim to be the rehearsal home of the Martin Luther King, Jr, All Children’s Choir. And I am grateful that there is wonderful diversity at Sunday Night LIVE!, as well is throughout the many groups that gather in this place. Sunday morning? That’s still a work in progress.
Here’s today’s “Didja know?” In our own Methodist family tree, there are several black Wesleyan denominations. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) has roots in 1816 Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (AME Zion) in 1821 (and before) New York. Both formed as discrimination became intolerable for them. In 1870, a Methodist Church divided over slavery since 1844 encouraged the formation of the Colored (now Christian) Methodist Episcopal Church (CME). I reckon at that point it was the easier path.
One more. When the northern and southern “branches” of our church reunited in 1939, along with the Methodist Protestant Church (another story!), they made a provision for a “Central Jurisdiction,” keeping some separateness in place. It was devastating to the African American part of our family, who had come together in such high hopes of becoming one. Those that did not become CME churches were part of the northern branch. You might know that Wilson Temple United Methodist was one such, a mere 8/10 of a mile from us on Oberlin Road.
In 1968, the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren churches merged to become United Methodists. A part of that event was the dissolution of the Central Jurisdiction. I grew up with EUBs, fine folks, so imagine my surprise when in 1975 I moved to a county not far away and found a seething anger about the 1968 merger. Do what? I learned that some (and it was only some) had
not read about Satchel Paige, nor did they care to. That might have helped.
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Musical Diversity
January 27, 2012
“Live from Fairmont – the one and only Fairmont Gospel Revue!” Many’s the time we have heard that said. Oh – you haven’t? If you show up tonight, you’ll have a priceless initiation into an integral part of Fairmont’s musical life. Who could have imagined in the fall of 1997, when we first pulled together some of our interested (and interesting?) musicians, that the project would have legs? And keep walking into the middle teen years? 14?
Unless you just came in, you know that music to be our own brand of “gospel jazz.” Drawing on the rich tradition of R & B, which has its roots in the church, our gang has arranged spirituals, classics, hymns, and rock and roll to give them all a gospel-jazz feel – in an array of styles. While a core of musicians has remained from the beginning, we have been enormously blessed to make music with a sampling of the finest musicians from Fairmont and the wider community.
It might not have happened, had our church not already had a “bent” toward what I’m calling “musical diversity.” That may be most evident in our choir, made up of singers who faithfully rehearse and lead us Sunday by Sunday. We’re blessed with the longevity of several, including our organist, Dayle Welch and our director of music, Eric Grush. Week by week, the choir shows the deep and wide range of music that has inhabited the choral camp – for centuries. The addition of instruments is another way to make that oh, so biblical “joyful noise” (Psalm 100:1 – you can look it up!).
Our young people, from children through youth and college, also lead us with music in worship settings ranging from Sunday mornings to the special programs that frame the seasons. Who would suspect that so much humor (joy?) could be found in music?
Psalm 150 names a number of the instruments of King David’s day: trumpet (of course), lute and harp, tambourine, strings and pipe, cymbals – the really loud ones! Throw in some “dance” and you’ve got a Psalm 150-style celebration, where “everything that breathes praise(s) the Lord!”
We’ve added even more instrument (although there should be a Hebrew word for trombone). Our hand bell choir continues to ring in the good news, season by season. Their recent journey to Durham for a nine-choir workshop is another step in their remarkable development. People! This is good stuff! Add in our young people using hand-chimes and there’s a kind of all-age, all-instrument, all-style continuum across the musical spectrum.
That’s a spectrum which includes all the people. Yes, we get to sing, don’t we? It’s our heritage as the people called “Methodists.” There was a time, a great time, when we were known as “the singing Methodists.” John and Charles Wesley made it so. Charles wrote over 6500 hymns, of which we still have a double handful – alas, we don’t have any of his usual 16-20 stanza hymns currently in use! Man was a poet without end…
We sing what we believe. That’s one reason “new” hymns give us pause. Without even thinking about it, we may be asking, what’s this saying? Do I believe it? Then there are those pesky tunes, but no matter. In Wesley’s instructions for singing (on page vii of our hymnal), “Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.” Reckon how Mr. Wesley would feel about an “other” called “Jesus Is The Rock and He Rolls My Blues Away” ??
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Haiti 2.0
January 20, 2012
A letter from UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) begins this way:
There are moments in the life of a nation when a single event charges in with such force that people long afterward point to the day, the hour, even the minute when their lives changed radically. For the people of Haiti, that event was the earthquake that toppled Port au Prince, the capital, on January 12, 2010, at 4:53 in the afternoon.
For many of us, it’s 8:46 am on September 11, 2001, or 7:48 am, December 7, 1941, events simply known now as “9/11” and “Pearl Harbor.” The summary devastation of two years ago certainly finds its place in that company, while in terms of casualties and deaths far surpasses them both. The number is still disputed, but generally is thought to be between 158,000 and 230,00. So yes, in the midst of such death, life has changed for Haitians.
Did you know that there are around 12,000 “Non-Governmental Organizations” (NGOs) at work in Haiti? How in the world can such a vast array of philosophies, practices and beliefs come together in cooperation?!
In the midst of that, it is worth our reflection on one of the best of the NGOs, our very own UMCOR. “We” were in Haiti long before the earthquake, in fact UMCOR’s director and other agency personnel were there when the quake struck. It kind of “came home” when NC’s own Sam Dixon, then leading UMCOR, with Clinton Raab died in the rubble of a hotel – while their friend Jim Gulley survived. A letter from The Rev. Cynthia Fierro Harvey (UMCOR Deputy General Secretary) says,
Jim emerged with his life and a commitment to walk with the Haitian survivors, which he does to this day with UMCOR. Let me continue with her thoughts.
During those first crucial months, UMCOR addressed widespread emergencies, distributing food, water, and shelter assistance to hundred of thousands of beneficiaries. We conducted needs assessments and began to devise immediate and long-term relief and recovery plans in coordination with other international agencies and our chief partner, Eglise Methodiste d’Haiti (Methodist Church of Haiti, EMH).
In the early recovery phase, which continues today, UMCOR’s work has b been facilitated by our strong connections forged over decades of service in Haiti. Together with our partners, UMCOR is advancing work in the fields of education, health and hygiene, shelter and reconstruction, livelihoods, and capacity strengthening. Our regular monitoring and evaluation of UMCOR programs allow us to build on pilot projects, identify and address challenges, an improve our methods and results.
- Providing shelters for families
- Creating education opportunities and rebuilding schools and classrooms
- Increasing access to community-based health and hygiene services
- Improving livelihoods and household income, and
- Rebuilding capacity for sustainable development.
I’m guessing you didn’t know you had been doing all that! Yes, we are part of UMCOR, in the same way we are part of the United Methodist Church: through our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, our witness.
There’s a booklet with fuller information on the table by the parlor. Come and see!
Pastor Steve
A Day In The Life… What’s in a holiday?
January 13, 2012
The dictionary* has as its first word on holiday, “holy day.” It goes on to describe the suspension of work and some act of commemoration. As to the day marking the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., most would agree that we have a “holiday.” Where is the disagreement? I’m guessing it’s in the “holy” part of holiday.
Every day could be seen as holy. How many times have we begun worship with
This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
But to speak of a particular day beyond every day as holy is to put it and its honoree under the microscope.
I’ve just been in Washington, DC, and for the first time, I’ve seen the memorial built to honor Dr. King. I wish there had been time for more than a drive by viewing, but even that was enough to sense its significance. Aligned with the memorials for Jefferson and Lincoln, the position of the three is beginning to be known as “The line of leadership.” The statue is massive, in bold relief, quite different from the other two memorials.
So how holy was he? I don’t think that’s the point, even though signs pointed to the hand of God upon him—from the early days. I began seminary four years after his assassination. Some fifteen years earlier, there had been quite a stir there at Garrett when King, answering God’s call for further study, visited our school. He would land at Boston to study there, but the power of that story, an “almost,” speaks of his charisma. And yes, that Methodist seminary would have welcomed a Baptist, renowned or not!
The memorial could be in Selma or Birmingham or Atlanta or Memphis, and indeed, in each place there are concrete remembrances. But it was in Washington, DC, that Dr. King marched, and spoke amid that mass of people of simply cashing a check—a promissory note written to all people in the very founding documents of our land:
So we have come to cash this check—a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
The voice of a preacher, a prophet, one touched by the very Spirit of God. As it is a challenge to find biblical characters who are without flaws, the same could be said for the very presidents we honor in February (Washington and Lincoln).
Tonight, we get to hear the fabulous choir, now in year 26, founded upon and developed to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is worth our time to be here, and to reflect on what it all means for the sake of justice.
Pastor Steve
* Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, Merriam-Webster, Inc., Springfield, MA, 2003, p. 593
A Day in the Life… More?
January 6, 2012
Since the turning of the year, I seem to be given to fits of reflection. An article by Greg Jones, Dean of Duke Divinity School, reminded me of my early days as a pastor. I admit it, I didn’t spend as much time listening as I spent charging full speed into discovering and bringing into being the very kingdom of God. Most seminary graduates would plead guilty of such grandeur. There came a point when I did hear them: we want to be left alone. Message received. Today, I hear in that echoes of Ebenezer Scrooge saying that he, too, wanted to be left alone.
It was another Dickens character, Oliver Twist, who dared to ask, “Please, sir, may I have some more?” a request which only got him a world of hurtin.’
Dean Jones has suggested, however, that church people want more – that is, more asked of them. He finds a rising tide of discontent in merely being consumers of church “services” (make your own list) and with it a rising desire to have more asked of them. The “more” is not what I first expected (more time, more talent, more treasure), but rather more interaction with our several lives and the common life of the church. Considering a billionaire who wanted to be asked more, here are Jones’ “inquiries” of him:
“What are the issues he is wrestling with as a business leader? How might his faith inform his responses to management challenges and his thinking about leadership? How should his faith help him decide how to schedule his time? Nurture his personal and professional relationships? Inquiry is a central activity for Christian institutional leaders in cultivating teams and discovering innovative possibilities for an organization.”
A like set of questions could be inquired of us all. What matters in your workplace? At home? In the neighborhoods? Schools or the other institutions that affect our lives? How do we prioritize our time – or do we even think about it? How does “who we know” affect “what we know?”
Jones suggests that if the church is not helping to shape our responses in those wonderfully varied settings, it is missing a key element of being the church. So I’m thinking about how we have that conversation.
Sometimes, it’s highly informal. We’re working together at the bazaar or a luncheon, or developing a program, or serving on a work team – somewhere in those big chunks of time, we talk about how our faith impacts our larger life. Sometimes it’s more formal. In Sunday School or our studies or on retreat, we might speak more deliberately about an applied faith. Sometimes it’s in groups, sometimes it’s one on one, meeting for coffee or lunch, digging down into an ethical dilemma.
So yes, there’s more. May we “inquire” of one another, even connect the dots.
Pastor Steve
A Day In The Life … The Year in Retrospect
December 30, 2011
At the turning of the year, it seems good to highlight the highlights! This is not an exhaustive list, but at the risk of leaving out important things, I offer these for your remembrance and celebration:
* We welcomed to our membership Phoebe Rummel, Margarete Hermanson, Jane Deacle, Eliese Ronke, Brian Dulaney, Maggie Lewis, Lydia Edmonds, Wesley Weaver, Will Snider, Chase Poli, Katie and Ryan Paul, Betsy Purcell and Patrick Simpson, Maggie and Adam Prince, Sarah and Rich Loeppert.
* Worship has been filled with “special” – children, youth, college students, musicians of all ages, “witnesses,” and leaders of our several ministries.
* At Easter, we entered into a twelve month effort to “become a praying congregation.” A study was followed by a sermon series, followed by distribution of 80 of the When You Pray†books. Then a group of 18 “prayed” the Psalms. Next, a prayer labyrinth!
* The large meeting room upstairs (The Upper Room) got a serious makeover.
* Our church youth have become great gardeners! They have worked on the rehabilitation of many of our planted areas – and enjoyed it!
* After 11+ years, we sent the good folks of Stop Hunger Now out into the world. Reports from 615 Hillsborough St. are that they are managing, but they miss us – a lot!
* Through SHN, we packaged 7,000 meals at Vacation Bible School and were part of a 100,000 meal day at NCSU.
* After 12+ years, we shifted our work with Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network from the “overnight” ministry to hosting an individual family in WIHN’s new “transitional” housing. Kudos to our Outreach Team!
* We have continued to seek justice for persons with mental illnesses, we were among the sponsors for both the NAMI Walk and the 250-strong “Faith Connections” event (Chapel Hill), and will do so again in 2012.
* We hosted groups of people recovering – from a variety of addictions. 17 groups each week.
* Parents’ Morning Out becomes the Fairmont Early Learning Center, and has shown marked growth, interacting with the congregation in wonderful ways.
* The Raleigh Wesley Foundation is doing significant ministry through, among and by college students.
* We “rocked” – Our young people led us March 27 in the amazing musical, “Let’s Rock!” They were back for more in Advent with, “Dude! You Hear What I Hear?”
* We worked – some harder than others, but none harder than the Slidell, Louisiana Work Team, giving of themselves for the long term post-Katrina recovery.
* Church World Service gave Fairmont a special recognition for our faithful response to Blanket Sunday and Tools For Hope. We are apparently a rarity in celebrating those on Mother’s and Father’s days! CWS is the parent agency for CROP Walks, in which we also raised our level of involvement.
May 2011 serve as a pivotal year toward even greater faithfulness in 2012!
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Your Christmas?
December 21, 2011
I’m in the odd position of writing a column that will be read
a) one, two or three days before Christmas or
b) on Christmas Day or
c) after Christmas, while cleaning up old emails.
So what is a word for those anticipating, those celebrating, and those cleaning up the debris? A quandary, for sure.
So let’s try this: From now until then, we’ll be asked, “So how’s your Christmas?” I contracted “how” with “is” (as in, how’s that?) or “was.” Don’t know if Webster et al. will let me get away with that, but they are unlikely to read any column of mine. Inherent to the question is not just the how is or how was, but the “your” attached to Christmas. I hope I’m not splitting hairs…
Of course, we do have a mild, or at least polite interest in the “how goes it” for people we care for enough to ask. For the moment, let’s set aside any desire to hear about family feuds (Donnybrooks! Brouhahas! Knock down drag outs!) and say, we want to know – what? What are we asking? Or hoping to hear?
If I’m asked about “my” Christmas, I immediately think of the onrush of activity, the stresses of organizing (will there be enough ham?), the unexpected and nearly derailing surprises that inevitably find their way onto the “track” to Christmas. The question seems to be part “did you keep it together?” and part “did you get any good stuff?”
We’ve used Michael Slaughter’s adage throughout the season, “It’s not your birthday.” Right! It’s Jesus’ birthday. So maybe the “your” in the “How was your Christmas?” question needs to be removed. What if we asked one another, “What happened for you during the season?” or “How did God nudge you toward the manger, and then into the world?” or simply, “Did the star shine upon you?”
I want to save the full Advent Journal for next week’s Focus. There are some themes, five “stars” that shone with a “holy light:”
* Worship – Every Sunday, we worshiped twice, “twofers,” with high regard for the coming of Jesus. The sacred story has come alive for us once more.
* Service – We gave materially to people in need, from Robeson County to next door (Christmas gifts and food), helped gather coats, and more.
* Fellowship – Was that before? Or after? Or during? All of the above! Reception, hot chocolate and cookies, Christmas Eve dinner … we do food!
* Music & Drama – Fairmont Gospel Revue, Dude!, Gloria!, and we sang all manner of Advent (preparation) and Christmas (celebration) music.
* Generosity – The giving of all that we value has been evident in every one of the areas listed above, especially in your Christmas offering.
“Our” Christmas fails miserably in self-centeredness, consumerism, and greed. By the way – you do Christmas remarkably well! May the star shine upon you!
Pastor Steve
A Day In the Life… And now, the offering.
December 16, 2011
During Advent, the mail has gotten more “mixed” than ever. For me, the best part is the cards and letters from those who care enough about us to send them. Of course, the even better part is a package – oh, the excitement! My address is … but I digress.
Most regard the worst part to be the “junk” mail. Yes, it’s year around, but it really gets rolling in this season. Order something from some place one time, and here come the catalogues, as many as three or four a week, which I recycle in the manner of Sisyphus. You remember him from Greek mythology, rolling the boulder up one side of the valley and never quite making it, and starting over, and over… Wasn’t it Gus (Ground Hog Day) who said, “That pretty much sums it up for me!” But I digress again – how do catalogue folks make any money?!
In between those layers of mail is a third tier, the one that interests me, and may interest you, too. It’s the solicitations. These “asks” are sometimes couched as “year end reports,” as if we were all stock holders in their cause. They may also plead their cause in ways ranging from their dire straits to the higher ground they hope to gain – with our help. Where do they all come from?
I’m sorry to say, they come from us. At some point, we have shown some interest, inquired or made a donation. Yes, “they” occasionally share our names with causes like unto their own, but that’s probably the exception, not the rule. We have a range of reactions, don’t we? From “I remember them,” to “Who is this again?,” to “Not them again!” Our interest may have risen or fallen since last we heard from them.
One of the things they’re good at, in my perception, is “guilt.” You know, “Without your help, yes you, we’ll be toes up in a heartbeat.” Who needs that?! At Christmas or any other time?! Somewhere in there might be our compassionate response, and an opportunity to do some good. But one more thing they stir in me is a sense of “value.” Think about it.
Budgets are “moral documents,” right? Don’t they reflect our core beliefs, what is really important? We all have a budget, whether it’s written down or not. The actual “line items” would be fascinating – but mostly not for public consumption, I’m guessing. With every cause that comes to us, the “value” question pops up: do I value this enough to do something about it?
Somewhere in our piles is the Fairmont Christmas letter, and with it, an offering envelope. On a regular basis, all of us are challenged at the level of our “values,” and whether we have what it takes to act upon them. Needs are budgeted, surprises rear their heads, the “ask” is ever before us.
My thankfulness for you is not contingent upon whether or not you respond to this or any other of our appeals. I am simply grateful for the life and ministry we have shared for nearly 2.2 decades. Without your generosity to this point, the journey’s path would have gone in a very different direction. Thanks be to God for you, for all you do, for all you will do. Amen.
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Bethlehem, O Little Town
December 9, 2011
Over twenty years ago, in my one and only trip the Holy Land, we spent time in most of the gospel’s marquee localities—the headliners. I was repeatedly surprised how un “hokey” were the sites. Yes, there were souvenir stands, but hey, everybody’s got to make a living. I had really looked forward to going to “O, Little Town of Bethlehem,” the town of song sung since I could sing at all. I was not prepared for Bethlehem, 1989.
Don’t get me wrong. It is an amazing place. Bethlehem, The House of Bread—center for baking! It’s Church of the Nativity is the oldest “surviving” church in the world. The Orthodox church is stunning. One enters through a door on one’s knees—the story is that the low door was built not for an act of devotion but to keep people from riding horses in there! There’s a floor over the original mosaic floor, and an opening to look at it. Pillars of red marble are remarkable. There’s a story that the only reason marauders did not destroy that church, as all others, was a painting picturing the “three kings.” One of them looked to those raiders like a Persian—one of their own! So rather than take a chance, the church was left standing. Whether or not it is built over the place of Jesus’ birth is utterly debatable, but another hole in the floor has a kind of sunburst around it, opening to a cave below. It all gives a pilgrim like me a lot to think about.
But the little town… Adam Hamilton says it might have had 500 citizens at the time of Jesus’ birth, but now it’s 30,000, or maybe 50,000—they’re not big on city “limits.” In 1989, coming out of the first “Intifada,” or “shaking off,” over half the shops around the town square were closed. Most had doors like we seen on a garage, and all them were covered in graffiti. We were told the Arabic slogans spoke to the struggle there and in the West Bank, occupied since 1967.
Just lately, another group of pilgrims was in Bethlehem, ten bishops, mostly from Methodist traditions, all women. I noted that Bishop Hope Morgan Ward was among them, whom some of you will know counts Fairmont among her roots. The bishops met with women: Jewish, Arab, Bedouin, even visiting a YWCA. Here are some excerpts from their report:
“We came to the land of Jesus to stand in solidarity with women working for peace. We heard their voices, listened to their stories and came away disturbed yet hopeful,” said United Methodist Bishop Deborah L. Kiesey, head of a delegation of 10 ecumenical women bishops who recently traveled to Israel and Palestine.”
“All of the women we met sought to empower other women within their communities by building on their strengths, enabling them to name and address the needs of their context and making a difference in the world. These women, by their stories, challenge and inspire us as women to find ways to work for a better future for women, children and men everywhere.”
“Ironically, in the land where the words for peace—peace, shalom and salaam—are spoken as greetings and/or farewells, this land is certainly not at peace.”
“Our passion for peace at home and abroad must be born out of our conviction to live as people, who, created in the image of God, understand the need to listen to the stories of others and admit there may be viewpoints on issues we have not yet seriously considered. We must pray for peace to become a universal priority of the church.” To read more go to Women voices of hope.
When I sing now, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” I realize that now, just as 2,000 years ago, life is harsh. How much we continue to need our Prince of Peace. Pray on.
Pastor Steve
A Day in the Life… Fairmont’s First Gift
December 2, 2011
In a variety of ways, we’re hearing, “’Tis the season ______.” Although the song calls for being “jolly,” some of the fun is filling in that blank in some other ways.
Did you know that the first service of worship for Fairmont Methodist Church was held December 5, 1937? I’ve known that for awhile, but right now, I’m asking, “What were they thinking?!” Start a new church – in December? Won’t people have all kinds of plans, from family celebrations to weekend jaunts for shopping – and resting up from them? Oh, well, what was I thinking? In the midst of The Great Depression, “church” was the best thing going – and it didn’t cost anything. Or did it? Let’s think about that.
The new church, slated for the western “edge” of Raleigh (really!) was organized in the living room of the parsonage of Jenkins Memorial Methodist. Their vision was to provide ministry and a presence in the State College community, for students and faculty alike. Whether they intended to make an inroad among the Baptists at Meredith College, I do not know – but they did! That first service (then through January 10, 1950) was held at the old Pullen Hall on State’s campus. That site is now memorialized with a parking lot – which, given our ten year journey to increase our parking, seems only fitting – even prophetic.
What did it mean to organize a new community of faith during The Depression? It must have been a time that called for considerable sacrifice. You may know that the great launch for the building campaign was held December 7, 1941. The bishop came from Virginia, and even as he preached, bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. As people returned to their homes for a pleasant afternoon, they instead heard the first reports of the carnage. A second season of sacrifice was called for, until 1945, when The Fellowship Center (yes, The Hut!) became Fairmont’s first building. It also became locus for raising funds, so that the sanctuary could open, January 17, 1950 – yes, sacrificial season number three. In 1958, the church worked with the NC Conference to build the Education Wing, which I am dubbing the fourth such season.
There would be more! Many will recall sacrificially giving to support building renovations and the parking lot – thus increasing dramatically our Hospitality. We rarely lack for causes, from the needs of this good old facility to the missional outreaches that invite our help – and our sacrifices.
As Advent unfolds, I’ve decided that the brave band of organizers gave Fairmont’s first gift. They gave it “to the glory of God,” no doubt, but they also gave it to us, “bequeathed” it to people they would mostly never know, nor be connected to by family ties. Here’s an Advent question: What do we bestow on those who follow our generation? Will we have given as lovingly, as generously, as sacrificially as those who have gone before?
Here’s where I am. Unless we live sacrificially, generously giving from the heart of our “living,” we are mere consumers, using up more than we build up. This Advent, may we each consider anew our next gift.
Pastor Steve